A Heart
by shells of thalassa
Summary: It sounded so great to have a heart, in retrospect. It wasn't. [Slight Lea x Kairi]


Having a heart is _nothing_ like Lea expected it to be.

He's always figured that he'd end up feeling guilty, of course. He isn't _stupid._ Murdering Vexen in cold blood (Warm blood, technically speaking. Boiling, even...?) ensured that much.

But he figured it would also be... _nice_. To hear it pounding when he ran too fast, or feel it accelerate when he did something stupid or a heartless jumped him. To feel happy when with his friends, eating ice-cream in the sunset. To feel _anything,_ really.

It sounded so_ great_ to have a heart, in retrospect.

It wasn't.

* * *

"Watch it!" He's had better battle cries, but there's not much time for thinking when a fifteen-year-old is swinging a flower-bedazzled key at your head.

"Can't keep up?" She's _cruel._ At least, using 'Princess of Heart' standards. From what Lea's seen, the Princesses are _sweet_. You've got Alice, the little blonde girl racing around Wonderland; Jasmine, who seems nice enough when watched from a far. (Not that he was a stalker; no. _Missions._) Then there's the brunette girl who's name he could never seem to remember...

"As if," He snorts lightly before bringing his keyblade up to block a haphazard blow from the teen. "It's not my problem that you aim for my_ hair_ instead of any vital organs; Y'know?" A scoff as he shoots a fireball at her. "Maybe it's just my inner assassin talkin'."

The red-head in front of him gasps lightly before twirling out of the way. Lea doesn't even bother to keep attacking her when she's distracted, because she's still 'learning'.

_If Yen Sid bothered to watch the training, he could tell that she most definitely doesn't need me going easy on her..._

_What did he say again? Oh, right!_

_"Since she's still 'learning', we can't let the big, bad Lea go too hard on her. Heaven forbid he hurts the precious, harmless little Princess!"_

_Harmless, right. Consider it memorized._

He tosses the keyblade up in the air, catching it easily before throwing a glance across the field at Kairi. "Wanna call it a draw?"

"Wait... what?" She regains her footing pretty easily before whipping around to face him. Her hair flies into her face with the effort, but it doesn't seem to bother her. "You're giving up like _that_?"

"I'm not givin' up-"

"Well then, come on!" Narrowing eyes that look way too familiar for her own good, she swings the keyblade down so that it's tip is facing the male head-on. "Don't hold back, _Axel_."

The way his heart drops at the words for seemingly no reason is slightly alarming, but he brushes it off as a fluke. "It's Lea, and I _refuse_ to play this game again."

"What game?" Lea shakes his head in slight disbelief.

"Y'know what I'm talking about, so don't play dumb." He lets his keyblade disappear as he continues speaking. "I say we call it a draw, you tell me no, I say yes, you say no, then I end up storming off..." He scratches the back of his neck, dropping his eyes to the ground. "Then, you rat me out to 'Sid."

"_Master Yen_-"

He waves a hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah, _whatever_! I'm tired, you're tired, let's just call it a draw for today."

"...Fine." Then she's smiling and getting rid of her keyblade. "If anyone asks, though, I won."

He likes banter like this. It's something he's actually good at. "Like anyone will believe you?"

"_Sora_ will." Then his heart's dropping all over again, because he's never going to get used to that girl flinging the name 'Sora' around so easily and he'll never know why. It's normal for her-and everyone else-isn't it?

"..._Whatever_. Go run off to the keybearer and tell him all about how you beat the big, bad Lea. Make him impressed."

"You're a keybearer too, you know." She leans forward with a smile. "I could always brag to you."

"I wouldn't enjoy it." He turns away then, because suddenly she's getting sassy and it's never a good thing to stick around her when she's like that.

"You can't fool me!" His heart's clenching all over again, and he suddenly _really_ wants to get out of this conversation and back to his room.

So he opens up a dark corridor and shrugs.

"I guess I can't."

And he leaves the shorter red-head standing alone in the yard, utterly confused.


End file.
